Great leaders have what it takes to build successful businesses. There is no one leadership style that leaders turn to for success. What they have to keep in mind when choosing leadership styles is that it should help them lead their business according to its vision and values and make their team buy into their philosophy and willingly contribute to the success of the organization. Another important thing that great leaders do is develop their successors to take the reins in the future.
A lot of people confuse leadership with management. While the two have a few things in common, they are poles apart when it comes to the ultimate purpose they serve or the objectives they achieve. Leadership isn’t just a skill or quality to have; it is rather an art that gives leaders the ability to get things done from others not through force or pressure, but through willingness. Leadership is more about using motivational and inspirational aspects to bring team members on board and willingly become partners in the success of the organization.
Leaders help team members understand the purpose they serve in the larger scheme of things and encourage them to challenge their limits to serve that purpose. Every team member is an important cog in the wheel and the role of leaders is to ensure that all the cogs put a combined effort to take the wheel in the right direction. On the other hand, management is more about supervision and guidance to complete daily tasks. It has little to do with serving the bigger purpose. Different leadership styles are effective in different settings and organizational structures. However, the wrong leadership style can prove detrimental to the growth of a company.
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Wrong leadership style hurts everyone involved
Many organizations end up choosing wrong leaders. It is not the leader who is wrong but the environment or culture that they are expected to excel. Some leaders are simply not right for certain organizations. The outcome that comes out of such an unfavorable association is usually undesirable. Having said that, choosing a leader is one of the most important decisions that an organization makes but they still get it wrong somehow.
Different businesses, projects, employees, and processes need different leadership styles. Adapting to the culture and needs of an organization is often the qualities that separate great leaders from not-so-good ones. The inability of a leader to do this not only spells their downfall but also the company they are leading.
Leaders that are not the right fit for an organization or are finding it tough to adapt to the style of leadership required can often result in employees feeling less engaged at work. A team that’s not properly engaged delivers poor quality work, is down on productivity, and contributes to the overall profitability of a business. What’s easy to understand here is that the wrong leader or leadership style can make employees feel unmotivated and not willing enough to be productive. In the worst case, poor leadership makes employees think about making the tough decision of having to quit. To avoid such situations, leaders should be willing to adopt a leadership style that goes well with the vision and culture of an organization.
Most common types of leadership styles
Transformational leadership: This is one of the effective leadership styles in a corporate sector. This leadership style is based on a leader’s ability to inspire their team members through clear and effective communication and actionable collaboration. Transformational leaders paint the path to success for the teams to walk on. They lead by example and set goals that challenge team members to go that extra mile to achieve success.
Democratic leadership: Democratic leadership is all about making the team members a part of the decision-making process. So instead of asking their team to follow orders, they ask for their opinions. They share everything with their teams that they think has anything to do with their work or that can come in the way of the achievement of their goals. The best thing about this leadership style is that it helps in building trust with employees and brings them on the same page as the leader. It encourages creativity and helps employees grow. It also helps leaders in making their teams do what they want but in ways, they are comfortable with.
Coaching leadership style: This leadership style is also an effective one but is used very sparingly by leaders. The reason that leaders give when asked about why they don’t use it more often is that they don’t have too much time to provide coaching to employees. However, if it is used in the right way, it can help leaders in building a team that they won’t have any trouble in leading to the path of success. The coaching leadership style is also great at building a great relationship between the leader and the team. It particularly works with employees that are willing to grow and learn new skills.
Pacesetting leadership: This leadership style naturally comes to those who have recently become leaders due to their exceptional performance over the years. This style usually works with employees that need little motivation to perform. However, it doesn’t often work as setting the pace doesn’t always help in energizing and motivating teams to achieve greater things.
Affiliative leadership: This leadership style works best in organizations where leaders are entrusted with managing institutional change, setting up new teams, and building or re-establishing trust. Leaders that use this style are very good listeners and use their own stories to inspire their teams. To effectively use this style, leaders need to be well-versed with how emotional intelligence works. The downside of this style is that it can lead to poor performance and conflicts go unnoticed.
It is quite evident that different leadership styles work in different working cultures. And great leaders are flexible and have no trouble in adopting a different leadership style according to the needs of an organization.
References:
- 6 Leadership Styles that Get Results | 8 September 2013
- Leadership That Gets Results | HBR| Daniel Goleman | March–April 2000
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